- INTRODUCTION
-
- On Monday, December 28th, the Fox Television
Network aired a show called "Worlds Greatest Hoaxes: Secrets Finally
Revealed." The show was heavily publicized and was seen by millions
of basically uninformed people who would be inclined to agree with and
accept the shows basic premise: That the events discussed are generally
accepted as factual, thus requiring such a show to "expose"
the multiple deceptions. Nothing could be further from the truth.
-
- In general, the show revealed nothing
new. For several months now the "alien autopsy" has been known
to be a hoax and widely exposed as such. It is also widely known that
several--and perhaps all--of the above-surface photos of the Loch Ness
Monster are hoaxes, though the underwater shots are accepted as genuine
and were indicated as such in the program. Furthermore, nearly all serious
UFO researchers consider Billy Meir an outright fraud. Crop circles were
conspicuously unmentioned in the program because, no doubt, the patent
absurdity of the "Doug and Dave" explanation has become untenable
even to the media establishment that promulgated it.
-
- This brings us to the opening sequence
of the show, the only one where supposedly "new" evidence was
offered, the ultimate exposure as a hoax of the Roger Patterson film of
a female bigfoot striding across a sandbar at Bluff Creek, California,
in October of 1967. Anyone watching that segment and not knowing any better
would no doubt consider it a paragon of valid, unbiased, well-researched
information. However, once again, nothing could be further from the truth.
It was a slick piece of utter disinformation with no basis in fact and
riddled with blatant distortions.
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- BACKGROUND
-
- Roger Patterson was a feisty little outdoorsman
from the Pacific northwest who had previously encountered a bigfoot and
knew they were a real phenomenon. Not long after his first sighting, he
made it a personal goal to film one, so he began taking horseback rides
through the heavy montane forests where most bigfoot sightings occurred.
He did not believe in killing one, so he would take his rides armed only
with his old-style 8mm movie camera. Knowing this, his friends would often
ride with him carrying hunting rifles, to protect him if he encountered
a bigfoot and trouble ensued. On the October day he finally hit paydirt,
he had such a companion with him, Bob Gimlin. Pattersons rules for such
companions were simple: No firing unless they were attacked.
-
- As they rode along a the banks of Bluff
Creek, their horses caught the first whiffs of the bigfoots powerful body
odor. They bolted, but not before Patterson had spied the female at the
creek bank, probably washing food, as all four hominoid types are known
to do. His horse reared and fell over with Patterson still in the saddle,
but he managed to scramble out from underneath and retrieve his camera
from inside the saddlebag where he carried it. Bob Gimlin had all he could
do to steady his own agitated horse, catch and hold Pattersons terrified
animal, and keep an eye on the bigfoot in case he had to grab his rifle
and start firing at it.
-
- Patterson ran toward the creature, filming
as he ran, which the jiggling film clearly shows. Then he paused in his
pursuit to try to get a few steady frames, at which point the female sensed
his pause and turned to glance at him. All of this action is clearly visible
in the film. Then she turns away from him and continues her measured retreat
back into the woods flanking the creek. At that point Roger Patterson
and Bob Gimlin have made history: They have captured on film undeniably
genuine proof that hominoids exist. And while it is not the first such
proof by any means, it is certainly one of the most compelling.
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- HOAX HALLMARKS
-
- True hoaxes have certain hallmarks, and
such is the case with hominoid hoaxes. In fact, the Fox TV show used two
such "genuine" hoaxes in an effort to smear the Patterson film
by association. A hoaxed hominoid film will usually not be attributable
to any specific person, it will be provided anonymously, so whoever filmed
it cannot be grilled by specialists who will be able to quickly expose
the fraud. Also, the place where the filming occurred with not be provided,
so experts cannot return to the scene and check for footprints, measure
the creature against items (tree limbs, rocks, etc.) in the background,
or bring tracking dogs to see what their reaction will be. (Because of
a hominoids overpowering stench, even tracking dogs will recoil from it,
while a human in a suit will be pursued as if the suit did not exist.)
-
- In contrast to a hoaxers typical behavior,
Roger Patterson went right out from the sighting and called several area
experts, begging them to come to the scene and to bring tracking dogs.
None of the experts would come. However, several friends within the community
of bigfoot hunters did come to the scene to thoroughly examine it for
several days afterward, so there is no doubt that the creature was there,
she left numerous clear tracks that were photographed and casted in plaster,
and her weight was in the 600 to 800 pound range because the tracks she
left sank a full inch into the hard-packed sand at the creek bank, while
a 200 pound man walking near her tracks sank only about a quarter of an
inch. These facts are utterly undeniable, and they were utterly avoided
in the piece presented as fact on "Worlds Greatest Hoaxes."
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- TECHNICAL EVIDENCE
-
- 1) It was a bright, cloudless day with
sunlight glinting off the creatures hair as she walked. In close-up and
at very slow motion it is easy to see her muscles rippling in her right
shoulder and in her right thigh, just as they would be visible in a human
with those body parts exposed. If it had been a human in a suit, the suit
would have to have been glued to the skin to achieve such an effect, but
in the act of gluing, the subtle interaction between muscle and skin would
be lost. Even today, in 1999, Hollywood special effects wizards find it
extremely difficult to portray such subtle subcutaneous movements. In
1967 it was flatly impossible (check out "Planet Of The Apes").
-
- 2) The creatures arms are markedly longer
than human arms, with elbows that clearly articulate well below where the
elbows of a human in a suit would articulate. The added length of the
humerus (shoulder to elbow) is four, five, or even six inches, which in
anatomical terms is a light-year, and which causes the hands to swing
down near the knees, whereas in a human the hands reach only to mid-thigh
or above. There is literally no reasonable comparison between the two.
-
- 3) The creatures breasts are large, pendulous,
and quite noticeable when she turns to face Patterson as he films. In
close-up and slow motion (conspicuously avoided in the Fox show), it is
easy to see their fluid sway as she turns, and their distinct "bounce"
as she takes two steps. They are indistinguishable from human mammary
tissue in motion, yet if they were an attachment to a modern body suit
they would move more like silicone or gel implants. And in 1967 they would
no doubt have looked like the original implant "nosecones."
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- 4) The creatures body is extraordinarily
thick throughout all of its parts and in every dimension, much more so
than a similarly proportioned human (as seen in the accompanying "true"
hoaxes). The thighs are massive and flow quite naturally into equally thick
buttocks. When the creature turns to observe Patterson, the movement begins
with a smooth shift of the hips that follows up through a swing of the
entire upper torso, which reveals a shoulder width of approximately 30
percent more than humans have. Such outsized dimensions are not possible
to duplicate with a human in a suit and still retain even a semblance
of the "natural" movements seen in the film.
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- 5) The creatures walk has been carefully
analyzed by specialists in biomechanics in both England and Russia. Their
conclusion is that its walk is completely natural, yet unmistakably non-human.
The torso never rises above several degrees from vertical, while humans
walk with their torsos at or near vertical. The knees never lock, maintaining
a clear bend through the "carry" of each step. Humans lock their
knees with each step. So once again, there is no reasonable comparison
to be made except that humans and the Patterson creature walk upright
on two legs.
-
- WHO IS HOAXING WHOM?
-
- In "Worlds Greatest Hoaxes"
insurance agent Jerry Romney was "revealed" as the person wearing
the suit in the Patterson film. That he flatly denied any involvement
was of no importance to the Fox TV team. They simply filmed Romney walking,
flashed his walk momentarily against the walking bigfoot, and gleefully
announced that the two walks were suspiciously similar. Anyone who taped
the show can see what an egregious breach of journalistic ethics this
was. In matching the two gaits you will see that Jerry Romney walks extraordinarily
erect, and clearly locks his knees with each step, and his hands swing
just below his hips rather than down near his knees. Again, there is no
reasonable comparison that can be made between the two.
-
- As for the alleged "zipper line"
seen down the back of the creature as she walks, let me refer again to
the bright sun shining that day. The creature obviously is covered by black
hair. The sun glints off her upper back and both sides of her lower back.
But down the middle of her lower back and down into the crack of her buttocks
there is indeed a dark line. What is it? A shadow caused by the indentation
of muscles along the spine of any upright walker. There is nothing at
all unnatural or suspicious about such a dark line in precisely that place.
-
- Now, as for the idea of a zipper, imagine
how difficult it would be to manipulate one placed in such a place. Any
surfers out there? You know a wetsuit has a backside zipper, and to zip
it up requires a string attached so it can be opened and closed. If going
to the trouble to make such a fantastically convincing suit, why put the
zipper in back so someone else will have to help you into and out of it?
And for that matter, if making a suit for Jerry Romney, why go to the
trouble to add breasts to it? Just so you can rag on poor Jerry about
having to sashay around as a female?
-
- Another point the Fox TV crew made is
that Roger Patterson worked for a film outfit called American National
Enterprises, or ANE. They said he was on their payroll. Fine. Ive been
in this field as a researcher for many years now and have never heard
that story, but Im in no position to deny it outright. However, I am in
position to suggest that pay stubs with Pattersons name on them should
have been presented on the program in addition to the unsupported statement
that he was indeed on their payroll. Again, I see this as an egregious
breach of journalistic ethics.
-
- One more such breach that needs to be
mentioned is this: Bob Gimlin is still alive, yet his name was not mentioned
in "Worlds Greatest Hoaxes." Why? Because Gimlin has insisted
all of his long life that the film is genuine. Now, to question the authenticity
of the film is to question the integrity of Bob Gimlin, and that is not
easy to do for the following reason. When money for the film began to roll
in, Roger Patterson ruthlessly cut Bob Gimlin out of any participation
in the proceeds. If the film had been a hoax and Bob Gimlin had known
about it, that would have been an insane move for Patterson to make. All
Gimlin would have had to do was expose the hoax to make the $25,000 that
was being offered at the time for conclusive proof about it one way or
the other. Gimlin did not offer such proof, even at the lowest point in
his relationship with Patterson.
-
- What that means is this: If Patterson
did indeed fake the film, he clearly did so without Bob Gimlins knowledge.
And that means the person in the suit (Jerry Romney if you believe the
Fox TV hoaxers) was parading around in front of a man armed with a high-powered
hunting rifle who would have been well within his legal (if not moral)
rights to shoot him dead and take him home as a priceless "trophy."
So it seems unlikely that Jerry Romney, or anyone short of a complete
imbecile, could have been talked into getting into that suit on that particular
day.
-
- CONCLUSION
-
- For whatever reason, Fox TV and the producers
of "Worlds Greatest Hoaxes" consciously conspired to disseminate
a hoax of their own, at least as far as their expose of the Patterson
film is concerned. I have no idea what their agenda might have been, other
than to make those of us in the "fringe" look bad for believing
in it. But I can say this without fear of contradiction: Anyone who has
legitimately studied the Patterson film (as Kal Korff said on camera that
he has been doing "for 25 years") knows the evidence supporting
its reality is literally overwhelming on so many practical and technical
levels as to make the issue beyond dispute.
-
- The Patterson film remains one of the
best pieces of evidence ever produced in support of hominoid reality,
and the only reason that reality has not been accepted is because the
media conspires to keep it discredited with hatchet jobs like "Worlds
Greatest Hoaxes." I hope everyone reading this essay will mention
it to friends and acquaintances who might have been hoaxed not by the
Patterson film, but by those individuals claiming to be exposing it as
a hoax. And to those responsible for that Fox TV travesty, I sincerely
hope that someday you become as thoroughly ashamed of yourselves as your
mothers would be if they knew what you had done.
-
-
- Lloyd Pye
(www.lloydpye.com)
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